Winemaker Loic Roure

Loic Roure from “Domaine du Possible” settled down in the Agly Valley in 2003 when buying an old cooperative winery at Lansac that had been closed down since 1990. It is a few years before that when he chose to open his wine bar and..

Loic Roure from “Domaine du Possible” settled down in the Agly Valley in 2003 when buying an old cooperative winery at Lansac that had been closed down since 1990. It is a few years before that when he chose to open his wine bar and restaurant, that he came to the vine world. It seems that he discovered the wine growing environment during a fascinating work experience with Thierry Allemand (Cornas). It took him only a few days with Thierry to realise that it was exactly what he wanted to do in life ! After looking unsuccessfully for vines to buy in Ardèche, he rediscovered Roussillon where he used to spend holidays as a child and where there were vines for sale ! Meeting with Cyril Fahl and Jean Louis Tribouley definitely convinced him to settle down there. The “Possible” vineyard came to life in 2003 starting with 2,5 ha then expanding to 4,5 ha en 2004, 7 ha a few years later, and 10,5 ha since 2012. He will rapidly share his huge cooperative winery (600 square meters by 5 meters high) with Edouard Laffite owner of The ‘Bout du Monde’ vineyard. It was a good way for them to share the equipment and to exchange on all subjects related to wine. According to Loic Roure, 2009 was the year when the winery fully reached a balance and wine making process had been much simplified. This extremely windy region makes wine growing work easier especially concerning illnesses control. The very dry soils reduce competition between plants. Soil cultivation is done by tiller, caterpillar, tractor (for 3 ha), winch or with basic pickaxe. Spring treatments are done with sulphur and with “bouillie bordelaise” if required, depending on vintage (three times in 9 years), diverse plant infusions may also be used. Summer maintenance is essential in order to treat as little as possible. Soil amendments are automatic as soils filtration power is high.

In the winery, vinification is rather done by cold fermentation, whole bunch, semi-carbonic and carbonic fermentation and sometimes with destemmed berries. Fermentation process is natural thank to indigenous yeasts. Sulphur is used scarcely when necessary. At first, Loïc was very reluctant to sulfites input. Wisdom and experience proved that when cautiously used and only during bottling process, wine stability was maintained! Home grape varieties : White variety : Macabeu, Carignan Gris, Grenache gris, Grenache blanc and Carignan blanc are around 60 years old and are planted in soils such as gneiss, grey schists and granitic sand. The four “Noir” Carignan plots are situated on the same types of soils. Vines are between 52 and 105 years old. The grape variety “Grenache noir” is grown on a 1 ha plot of land planted in 1966 on a schist type soil plus on a second plot of land at Latour de France. The Syrah variety grapes are 35 years old and were implanted on vertical schist hill sides. A new 4 ha plot situated at Caudiès de Fenouillèdes has now been vinified for 2 years (Carignan Syrah, Grenache Noir, Macabeu). Loïc Roure also has a wine trading business called « En attendant la pluie ». Vintages made from organic grapes cultivated on rented land, bought land or shared land. We are pleased to offer you a selection of vintages from his Vineyard.